On the recordMay 23, 2018
I include in the Record the following editorial from my local paper, The Ledger, in reference to my amendment to H.R. 5515, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, to provide taxpayers with greater transparency into ``official time.'' Editorial: Per Ross, let's make officials report all `official' time (The Editorial Board) Think unions and the stereotype that comes to mind is one of burly, thick-necked guys clad in hard hats, scuffed work boots and plenty of denim. Perhaps that image was fit in 1955, when the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO, America's largest organized labor group. At the time an estimated 35 percent of U.S. workers belonged to a union, and most often such workers drove trucks, assembled cars, built and wired buildings, or engaged in similar hands-dirtying work. Today, only 11 percent of workers are unionized, and frequently they wear a uniform (such as police or firefighter), or work in an office or public school classroom. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 34 percent of union workers toil for local, state, or federal government agencies--or roughly five times the number of those who drive trucks, assemble cars, build and wire buildings, or engage in similar hands-dirtying work. Inevitably, these workers must tend to union business at the expense of their official duties in service to the public. U.S. Rep.…
